Apollo 13

1995 Drama

"Houston, we have a problem." Those words were immortalized during the tense days of the Apollo 13 lunar mission crisis in 1970, events recreated in this epic historical drama from Ron Howard. Astronaut Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks) leads command module pilot Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon) and lunar module driver Fred Haise (Bill Paxton) on what is slated as NASA's third lunar landing mission. All goes smoothly until the craft is halfway through its mission, when an exploding oxygen tank threatens the crew's oxygen and power supplies. As the courageous astronauts face the dilemma of either suffocating or freezing to death, Mattingly and Mission Control leader Gene Kranz (Ed Harris) struggle to find a way to bring the crew back home, all the while knowing that the spacemen face probable death once the battered ship reenters the Earth's atmosphere. The film received an overwhelmingly enthusiastic critical response and a Best Picture nomination, but lost that Oscar to another (very different) historical epic, Mel Gibson's Braveheart. In 2002, the movie was released in IMAX theaters as Apollo 13: The IMAX Experience, with a pared-down running time of 116 minutes in order to meet the technical requirements of the large-screen format. more..

Director: Ron Howard

Starring: Tom Hanks,Bill Paxton,Kevin Bacon,Gary Sinise,Ed Harris

Reviews

  • You can know every glitch that made this such a dangerous mission, and Apollo 13 will still have you by the throat.

    Elvis Mitchell - The New York Times

    29 November 2012

  • Ron Howard's film of this mission is directed with a single-mindedness and attention to detail that makes it riveting.

    Roger Ebert - The Chicago Sun-Times

    29 November 2012

  • "The Right Stuff" will endure as the more ambitious movie, but this book-faithful, 2-hour team effort shrewdly keeps its eye on the ball.

    Staff [Not Credited] - USA Today

    29 November 2012

  • It's a nail-biter and knuckle whitener of the first rank: a super real life techno thriller that reduces the fantasies of Tom Clancy and his clones to ground zero.

    Michael Wilmington - The Chicago Tribune

    29 November 2012

  • Howard lays off the manipulation to tell the true story of the near-fatal 1970 Apollo 13 mission in painstaking and lively detail. It's easily Howard's best film.

    Peter Travers - Rolling Stone

    29 November 2012

Awards

  • Top Box Office Films

    ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards (1996)

  • Best Film Editing

    Academy Awards (1996)

  • Best Action/Adventure Film

    Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films (1996)

     
  • Best Edited Feature Film

    American Cinema Editors (1996)

     
  • Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Theatrical Releases

    American Society of Cinematographers (1996)